Brewery: Innis & Gunn
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
ABV: 7.7%
Version: Bottled
Source: Sainsbury’s

Innis & Gunn’s various oak-aged, cask-matured ales seem to be real marmite beers. Some folks love ‘em (I was out for a few beers with a Scottish chap a couple of weeks ago who’s a big fan) and some folks seem to hate ‘em (I’ve seen some pretty scathing mentions on other blogs from time to time). I was suitably impressed when I first tried the Original and Blonde variants and have since sampled and enjoyed both the Canadian Cask and Rum Cask versions, so I’m definitely a fan. Which is why I happily grabbed the Innis & Gunn box set when I saw it on the shelf in Sainsbury’s back before Xmas.

The pack (which at the time was priced at a very reasonable £8 and was included in the Xmas gift 3-for-2 deal to-boot) contained an Innis & Gunn branded stem/snifter glass (I’m not 100% sure what the technical term is, but it looks like this and in his blog piece Mr Mackney describes it as a ‘tulip’ glass, which is good enough for me) as well as three of their ales: an Original, a Rum Cask and a new one on me: an Innis & Gunn IPA, weighing in at a respectable 7.7% ABV.

Pouring a pale, golden caramel colour with a thin head, Innis & Gunn IPA was packed full of slightly sweet, toasty, vanilla-tinged biscuity flavours, with a faint smoky-wood note, presumably from the oak ageing process, which made it similar to the Innis & Gunn Blonde and Original variants. It compared well to a few other UK IPA-style strong-ish beers that I’ve had, such as Marston’s Old Empire or Dark Star Six Hop. But what it seemed to be missing was the sharp dryness of a big-hop finish that we’ve come to expect from big-ABV IPAs courtesy of most of the top American independents, and it’s not in the same league as UK brews like Thornbridge Jaipur, BrewDog Punk IPA (or Hardcore IPA, or Chaos Theory, or Atlantic), Worthington White Shield or Marble Dobber, Hopdaemon Skrimshander et. al. So does this mean I’ll be off on another “fake IPA!” rant (as per my previous post?)

Well, no. Because as Pete Brown tells us in Hops and Glory and Martyn Cornell mentions in Amber, Gold & Black, the ale that arrived in India used to be very different to the one that left Burton (or, indeed, London, Edinburgh and several other brewing towns). Over the course of a few months at sea, in almost constant motion on board a pitching, rolling East Indiaman, moving through a number of different climate zones and changing temperature along the way, the brew in the barrel would undergo an almost alchemical transformation equivalent to at least a couple of years of cellar ageing. As a result, the over-hopped bitterness of the young brew (Martyn Cornell tells us that most breweries used double the regular volume of hops in their IPAs) would all-but disappear and the other flavours and strength of the ale would shine through.

So whilst Innis & Gunn’s latest IPA (the info on their website refers to the 2006 bottling, which was a lower strength 6.4% ABV) probably isn’t quite the authentic, finished article, the 55-day maturation that Innis & Gunn IPA undergoes in (presumably static) oak casks means it’s a step in the right direction. The sweetness and biscuity-vanilla flavour of the beer would presumably mellow and deepen if they left the stuff in-barrel for another 55 days or so and maybe, you know, sloshed it around a bit? I’d be interested to see what one of these tasted like after a couple of years, although as the beer isn’t bottle-conditioned (clear glass, can’t have all that sediment lurking at the bottom…) maybe the character of it wouldn’t change all that much after all?

Incidentally, the Sunday Times ran a feature in their business section the other week: How I Made It: Dougal Sharp, founder of Innis & Gunn. Interesting bit of background on the founding of the company and the origins of the I&G brew.

Our local Sainsbury’s has rotated it’s 2 for £3 real ales offer again; last night I picked up a couple each of Meantime London Stout and Purity Ubu and I spotted Adnams East Green, Holt’s Maple Moon and a few others with the same red shelf-tags (I forgot to take notes, sorry…)

They had the 750ml version of Innis & Gunn Original at 2 for £5 as well.

Brewery: Innis & Gunn
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
ABV: 7.4%
Version: Bottled
Source: Courtesy of Innis & Gunn

The Rum Cask finish is a limited edition bottling from Innis & Gunn that’s finished in oak barrels which previously contained navy rum. I&G explains the process on their website: “Maturation in special oak barrels imparts Navy rums with the sweet, spicy character for which they are renowned … We brewed a special batch of Innis & Gunn beer and matured it in oak for 60 days. Every single drop spent half of that time in American oak barrels before being refilled into selected navy rum barrels to finish the lengthy maturation. Once the beer had absorbed the unique character the barrels were emptied, the beer blended and then maturation continued for a further 47 days until all of the flavours had married together and mellowed.” Total maturation time: 107 days.

That aforementioned spicy-sweetness is distinctly noticeable: as well as being darker in colour, Rum Cask I&G is also much sweeter than their standard Oak Aged Ale and there was definitely a faint spiciness in there – the rum really stamping its character on the beer from the first impression onwards. Check out the spidergraph on the I&G website for more info on what you might expect.

I have to admit, I’m not a huge fan of rum in its own right – when it comes to spirits I much prefer whisky (or whiskey) or even bourbon at a push – and I think my impression of this brew was coloured by that. All in all, this one was drinkable and interesting enough, but I definitely preferred the Canadian Cask finish that I tried just before it. The Rum Cask is still a big, smooth, flavourful beer, but the given the choice of two, I’d go for the Canadian every time. Shame it’s only available on export.

Anyhow, another big thank you to Nicky at Innis & Gunn’s PR agency R&R Teamwork for sending this one along for me to try!

Brewery: Innis & Gunn
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
ABV: 7.1%
Version: Bottled
Source: Courtesy of Innis & Gunn

Canadian Cask is a version of Innis & Gunn’s Oak Aged Ale that has been aged in Canadian whisky barrels. This new limited edition has been created for the Canadian export market to celebrate Canada Day 2009 and won’t be generally available to buy in the UK.

Ageing for 71 days to 7.1% ABV makes the Canadian Cask slightly stronger than the standard Oak Aged but the extra alcohol doesn’t over-power another rich blend of interesting flavours. It’s a very warm, malty brew with an almond nuttiness that blends with a toffee sweetness to create a hint of marzipan. There’s a faint spiciness there as well – ginger or maybe nutmeg – that adds pleasant tang to the lingering bourbon after-taste.

All in all, an even smoother, richer version of the already very tasty Oak Aged. Shame we won’t be seeing all that much of it in the UK, but Canadian readers should definitely keep an eye out and think about bagging themselves a few bottles if they see it.

A big thank you to Nicky at Innis & Gunn’s PR agency R&R Teamwork for sending this one along for me to sample.

Brewery: Innis & Gunn
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
ABV: 6.0% / 6.6%
Version: Bottled (both)
Source: Courtesy of Innis & Gunn

We’ve actually covered both these beers on Blog o’ Beer before now – Joe was full of praise for the Original Oak Aged and Ed enjoyed the Blonde (although he preferred for the Oak Aged) – but I wanted to re-visit them both myself, for a couple of reasons. First off, so I can send a thank you shout out to Nicky at R&R Teamwork, who sent these bottles along on Innis & Gunn’s behalf. And secondly because it afforded me the opportunity to re-visit the Oak Aged and provide a more direct comparison of the two in the process.

I tried the Blonde first, it being the lighter of the two. I have to say, it was a lot richer than I expected it would be. It had a definite hop-based character but with a lingering malty sweetness as well. The golden colour and faintly zesty aroma was extremely pleasant as well: all in all an extremely satisfying, well-rounded beer that I thoroughly enjoyed.

The Oak Aged followed and to my surprise – especially considering Ed’s comparison and taking Joe’s rapturous praise into account – I actually found this one to be slightly less flavourful than the Blonde. It was noticeably smoother and richer, certainly, with a more pronounced sweetness and a more enticing aroma, but still… the Blonde just had a bit more bite to it, a bit more going on in the taste-bud-tingling department.

You know, I have to say – and this surprised me, given my usual preferences for darker, stronger, sweeter beers – that I actually preferred the Blonde to the Oak Aged. Perhaps the longer maturation process in the case of the Oak Aged ends up knocking off the Blonde’s remaining edges? If so, it’s almost a shame; the Oak Aged’s velvet mouth-feel with the Blonde’s sharper punch would make for a hell of a combination.

Don’t get me wrong, though. Both are extremely fine beers. I’d happily drink either one of them again and no doubt will before too long. In fact, perhaps I should do so sooner rather than later while, just to make sure this comparative tasting experiment didn’t generate a fluke result? Sounds like a plan to me.

Back to the notebook for another lightning gallop through some of the beers that I sampled last year but didn’t quite get around to writing up in full…

Wells Bombardier Satanic Mills (5.0% abv, bottled)
Pitch black with a light tan head, almost stout-like, you can certainly tell this sister beer to Wells’ Bombardier and Bombardier Burning Gold is brewed with chocolate malt. With coffee notes and a lingering sweetness as well, it’s got a bit of variety to it as well. Very nice.

Greene King Strong Suffolk Ale (6.0% abv, bottled)
A very dark, almost black, ale with a strong, sharp flavour. Not too sweet, not too heavy, I’d happily have another go at this one.

Innis & Gunn Cask Strength Oak Aged Ale (7.7% abv, bottled)
There’s an incredibly rich, complex flavour to this 77-day ages strong ale, with a gobful of toffee at the fore. Quite sweet but with a dry edge: rather like liquified treacle tart. Very nice indeed.

Hall & Woodhouse Badger Hopping Hare (4.5% abv, bottled)
This “thrice-hopped” golden ale is exactly as described: hopped up and dry to the taste, with a refreshing finish. Not the hoppiest I had all year (BrewDog’s Chaos Theory and Saltaire Stateside IPA spring to mind) but hoppier than most, certainly.

Shepherd Neame Whitstable Bay Organic Ale
Brewed using English organic barley and New Zealand organic Gem and Hallertau hops, this pale, golden ale has a very mild character with definite citrus notes and a pleasantly hoppy after-taste. Refreshing and easy-drinking, I think this one might be a staple summer ale of choice if I can find a stockist round about May or June time.

Whitewater Clotworthy Dobbin (5.0% abv, draught)
Had a pint of this one in the Crown Liquor Saloon (Belfast’s finest beer-related tourist trap) on a visit to Ed’s neck of the woods last August. The website says it’s a ruby porter, but I remember it as more of a strong ale, to be honest. Either way, it was a rich, malty brew with a grapefruit-sourness that mellowed as the pint went on… definitely interesting, if perhaps a bit of an acquired taste.

Whitewater Belfast Ale (4.5% abv, draught)
A second pint in the Crown, this time Whitewater’s signature bitter. A rich amber colour, poured a bit on the thin side (although Ed’s pint looked heartier than mine), tasted like a slightly less strident version of the Clotworthy, making it a more drinkable session choice, perhaps.

Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Marzen (5.1% abv, bottled)
One of a batch of bottled beers I picked up at the Vineyard off-licence on the Ormeau Road in Belfast while we were in town. This German smokebeer is brewed with smoked-barley malt and it really shows: it smells like a wet barbecue and tastes like smoky bacon crisps (although, I hasten to point out, still in a good way). Definitely an acquired taste and I for one couldn’t drink it in quantity, but I reckon a bottle or two would go very nicely indeed with a good cumberland sausage or some crumbly white cheese.

Harviestoun Old Engine Oil (6.0% abv, bottled)
Another one from The Vineyard, sampled whilst staying with friends in their cottage on the east coast of Northern Ireland. An incredibly rich, smooth porter / stout cross-over with hints of chocolate and caramel. Very potent and very drinkable, this one compared extremely favourably to the Meantime beers I was drinking on the same evening, being just as characterful but not quite as sharp on the palate and I’d definitely grab a couple more bottles if I spotted it again.

St Peter’s Cream Stout (6.5% abv, bottled)
I’ve been on a personal mission to find my perfect stout for a while now and I think this may be a definite contender. And as I’ve just found out from the St Peter’s website that there might be an outlet near me that stocks their beers, I’m hoping to re-visit this one before too long for a full write-up. Short version for now: a rich, huge-flavoured, intensely satisfying stout that delivers a massive hit of liquorice via an incredibly silky-smooth mouth-feel.

Leeds Brewery Leeds Pale Ale (3.8% abv, draught)
Tried this one at the Ackhorne Inn on our most recent visit to York. It’s a very pale ale that turned out to have enough hops for a decent IPA. Hops upon hoped upon hops in fact, resulting in a drop that’s very dry, very sharp and very, very bitter.

Everards Tiger Best Bitter (4.2% abv, draught)
On the same night out in York, we wandered down to the Yorkshire Hussar, where this turned out to be the only ale they had on draught. It also turned out to be a bit of an odd one: very smooth, quite sweet and with an after-taste that I eventually identified as fresh strawberries (I kid ye not). The website claims a ’rounded toffee character’, so perhaps my tastebuds were just mis-firing.

Right then, that’s another twelve to be going on with, I’ll stop there for now. I think I’ve got another dozen or so in the notebook that are worth a quick mention, so I’ll make up a third batch with those sometime this week, time allowing.

Xmas / New Year 2008. A week and a half off work and a chance to hit the beer cupboard and see what falls out. I kicked off at lunchtime on Xmas Day with a bottle of Wychwood Plum Duff (5.0% abv), a seasonal number from the brewers of one of my all-time favourites, Hobgoblin. Quite spicy, with a sweet & sour character, I thought Plum Duff had perhaps just a little too much fruitiness for my palate, but the mellow, warming after-taste made it drinkable. Not a bad start…

Xmas dinner was accompanied by a drop of Innis & Gunn Triple Matured which Ed sampled back in November and I pretty much concur with his conclusions on this one: toffee, vanilla, a little oak, generally smooth with a pleasantly bitter-sweet finish. I also cracked open a bottle of Meantime Winter Time, which I wrote up during my Meantime series last year. Unfortunately, I was too busy tucking into my grub to pay much more attention than last time, so I’ll have to come back to that one for a third attempt at some point.

Next up was a bottle of Greene King Abbott Reserve (6.5% abv) which turned out to be incredibly tasty; much more so that I’d expected, I have to admit. Another smooth, strong beer with a pleasant citrusy tang (I detected orange zest and nutmeg without any help from accompanying a mince pie). Quite sweet but with a bitter under-current that stopped it tasting too sugary. Definitely one I’d go back to again.

Boxing Day was spent driving to and from family in Leeds, so I only had time for a couple of beers when I got back home: first up was William Worthington’s White Shield (5.6% abv, bottle conditioned). At 5.6% it’s not as strong as you might expect an IPA to be and it poured with more fizz and a lot more sweetness than I thought you should expect from the style. Not horrible, per se, but far from the best I tasted last year.

After that one I went for a bottle of Williams Bros Midnight Sun (5.6% abv). This porter seemed to be a fairly classic example of the style: a slightly sour whiff in the bottle, a very dark ebony with a tan head, a spicy, faintly smoky, sweet coffee flavour that was smooth and very drinkable. Another good contender for a regular slot in the beer cupboard.

The weekend brought another driving stint up and down the country to the in-laws’ and by the time Jo and I had spent at least half of the (unusually long at four hours) journey to Bridgnorth stuck in a standing-wave tailback on the M6, I definitely needed a couple of beers and I was hoping that another strong ale from Greene King – this time Old Crafty Hen (6.5% abv) – would hit the spot quite nicely. It turned out to have a hoppy nose, citrusy flavours and a surprisingly deft touch for such a strong beer. Alas, that deft touch meant that whilst it was decidedly drinkable, it lacked much in the way of character and was rather un-memorable as a result. A symptom of larger brewery mass-production, perhaps? Or maybe it’s just one of those beers that’s much better on draught. I preferred the Abbot Reserve, definitely.

I opened a bottle of Hall and Woodhouse Badger Pickled Partridge (4.5% abv) next and alas it was another fairly indistinct one, albeit quite pleasant and quite drinkable again. Very malty, with light spice notes and a lingering bitterness to the after-taste. Not much else to write home about. I’ve had a much better Badger beer recently, which I’ll be writing up before too long (all being well).

The next day produced much better results. Jo’s folks live not too far at all from The Bull’s Head at Chelmarsh, which – following a change of management a couple of years back – is a great food and ale pub, well worth checking out if you’re down that way. I nipped down after Sunday lunch for a pint with brother-in-law Richard and opted for a drop of Dorothy Goodebody’s Christmas Stocking (4.2% abv? -ish?), a seasonal ale from Wye Valley. Extremely nice it was, too, with distinct cinnamon and nutmeg spices; very easy-drinking indeed and neither too heavy nor too sweet. More enjoyable than the Plum Duff, certainly.

I was back down the pub in the evening, with Jo and her folks, for an Irish folk session laid on by landlord John and some of his mates. This time I decided to try another draught Wye Valley brew, their Hereford Pale Ale. At 4% abv it was a light, highly quaffable, golden pale ale that made for a great session beer – I stayed with that one for the next couple of pints as well – with a fresh, faintly citrus flavour and a very dry, hoppy finish. Good stuff!

But the scooper in me was sorely tempted by a third draught ale from Wye Valley: Dorothy Goodbody’s Golden Ale and so I switched to that one for my final pint of the evening. I’m glad to say that I wasn’t at all disappointed. Very similar to the HPA, but with less strident hop notes and a maltier finish. Altogether a very pleasant end to a very good evening (the music was more than half-decent, too). If only they’d had Dorothy Goodbody’s Wholesome Stout on as well… but that’s one to keep an eye out for another time.

I finished the seasonal Bridgnorth run with a visit to the town’s specialist wine merchant, Tanner’s, and picked up a selection of local brews that are now awaiting their turn in the beer cupboard. More on those in due course.

And there you have it. Not the entire Holiday beer session, I have to admit. There are a few others that I will be writing up separately, but that’s the bulk of my last ten days’ beer sampling. Mostly good, one or two indifferent, none bad enough to pour down the sink. Not a bad result at all.

I’ve been stocking up on a few tasty ales to sample over the course of this year’s season of goodwill (and, hopefully, good ale) to all and sundry.

Firstly, the BrewDog Paradox Longrow and Paradox Springbank that I ordered the other day arrived this afternoon, along with a couple of very handsome BrewDog pint glasses. So that means I’ll have no fewer than four bottles of head-fucking rocket fuel potentially delicious strong stout to try over the Xmas break, for a start. Which is nice.

Added to that, I’ve got a bottle of Innis & Gunn Triple Matured (which Ed sampled recently), plus one of Wychwood‘s Plum Duff, which apparently isn’t their seasonal beer for December 2008: they have one called Winter’s Troll (see what they did there?) instead, but I haven’t seen any on the shelves of my regular supermarket haunts.

Speaking of beers not being on the shelves, I went looking for Morrissey Fox‘s seasonal ale – or their Best Bitter, which is meant to be a bit tasty – in my local Tesco the other day, but all they had was the blonde ale as usual. (Quick aside: you’d think that, what with all the attention they’d been drumming up for themselves recently, the MoFo boys would have bothered to update their website with something other than the same crappy holding page by now, eh?) Neither have I been able to find any of the Shepherd Neame Christmas Ale 2008 (which Ed also sampled recently).

Anyhow, back to the cupboard. There are a couple more strong ales in there that I’ve been saving for a dreary December day: Greene King’s Abbot Reserve and Morland Old Crafty Hen (also brewed by Greene King, although when I tried to find some official info online, I ended up stuck on their bloody infuriating Old Speckled Hen website) both of which look like they ought to be able to warm my cockles in fairly short order, all being well.

And I’m planning on revisiting Meantime‘s Winter Time in the near future and hope to take a more detailed set of notes than on my first attempt. I will, of course, be letting you know how I get on…

Brewery: Innis & Gunn
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
ABV: 7.2%
Version: 330ml bottle
Source: Sainsburys

What we have here is the Innis & Gunn Oak Aged Beer put through a lengthier maturation period, a whole 99 days in total, and the brewery decided to bottle some of it in a limited edition this year. I actually bought this a while back so stocks may well be depleted by now; there certainly wasn’t any on the shelves when I was in Sainsburys yesterday. There isn’t any information about this particular brew on the Innis & Gunn website, so I’ll have to précis the blurb on the side of the box.

The beer is brewed using Optic and chocolate malt from Scotland and Goldings hops from Kent. It’s then put into American white oak barrels and left to mature. Once they reckon the time is right the barrels are emptied into a marrying tun for further maturation, allowing the flavours from the individual barrels to blend together and mellow. Finally, the beer is poured into bottles and left to mature for another month. So is this lengthy and dedicated process worth the time and effort?

First up, the beer is a bit darker than the original, with an additional reddish tint to the dark brown colour. Opening the bottle, after letting it spend some time chilling in the fridge as per instructions, lets out that characteristic delightfully warm oakey aroma with a touch of toffee, very like a well-matured whisky. This really is one of the best smelling beers around. Onto the tasting and we get the familiar flavour of the original Innis & Gunn oak aged beer; smooth oak and malt notes, dried fruit, toffee, vanilla, some honey sweetness but with a slightly hoppier element adding some bitterness. The hops don’t infringe as much on the flavour as the blonde version, but I still thought they reduced the smoothness and mellowness that I love in the original. If they bottle some more next year I might try it again, just to see if a different batch is any better, but I’ll not be going out of my way to track down any more just now, especially when you factor in the £3 cost of a bottle.

Brewery: Innis & Gunn
ABV: 6.0%
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Version: 330ml bottle

The other day there I was, drifting around Tesco picking up a few essentials, when I just happened to find myself at the beer shelves. I usually know what to expect to find, my local Superstore branch may have a reasonably good selection but new additions are not that common. So I was surprised to find this one, the Innis & Gunn Blonde. Being a fan of their Original Oak Aged Beer, covered so eloquently by Joe here, I quickly stuck a bottle in the trolley.

So what does this have to offer? First off, it’s described as lightly oak aged but still matured for 37 days prior to bottling. The alcohol content is slightly lower, 6% compared to 6.6%. And it’s still recommended “serve well chilled”. So basically it’s a lighter version of the original. All the characteristic Innis & Gunn elements are there, just lighter with a more hop-driven flavour.

The colour is a paler gold more in keeping with its blonde moniker, and the vanilla and oak is less pronounced in the aroma. The flavour also has less of these vanilla and oak elements, allowing the fruity hop flavours to dominate. This hoppiness also reduces the sweetness, but I felt it weakened the overall flavour. The fruity bitter aspect just doesn’t seem to sit well with the warm, smooth oaky elements that makes the original so wonderful; too contrasting. Overall, worth checking out but I’ll be sticking with the original formula.

Now to track down some of their new Rum Cask Finish.